Monday, June 28, 2010

I feel fortunate to have seen In My Eyes, who in my opinion was in the top 5 best 90s Youth Crew Revival bands. Granted, the show I saw them at they didnt play their best because they had just come from the beach, were suffering from sun poisoning, and looked lobsters from how much they had been sunburned. I was able to knock them off my list of bands I wanted to see back in 1999. The first time I heard them was in 1997 when Neal was filling in on bass for Shutdown. Shutdown was on tour with Fastbreak (who has an equally amazing 7 inch in "Don't Stop Trying") in the beginning of the summer of 97. Fastbreak was setting up so I ventured out to see what merch the bands had brought with them and I managed to strike up a conversation with Neal. I had already bought a Shutdown shirt as well as the CD on Striving For Togetherness Records which depleted my funds. Out of the goodness of his heart, Neal gave me a copy of the In My Eyes demo telling me it was his new band and to check it out if I had a chance. On my way home, I popped in the cassette and it blew my mind. Here was one of the best representations of late 80's youth crew hardcore with a modern twist. The cassette flew by and I promptly rewound it and listened again. Each track stood on its own but to me, the standout track was definitely "This Is Our Time" which begins with a 4 count drum hit followed by that snare/floor tom fast beat that I love so much and the Boston bands made so popular. The lyrics reflect how getting older often people long for the "old days" and how there really isn't anything wrong with that. "You think I'm living in the past, Living out something long gone, But what's so wrong with believing what made me who I am, That's why I won't give up, Your criticism won't get in the Way!" With Stuck In The Past being a big part of my life, these lyrics mean more to me now than ever. While on the full length, the "In (My Eyes) Tro" precedes "This Is Our Time", here it is its own track though I wish they would have put it as it was later. The way it was on the full length just had so much more power because of this.Out of the 6 songs (7 if you count the intro), 2 were not re-recorded. This is something you don't see too often anymore. Most bands, especially nowadays, basically re-record every song they have to make up their full length (hey, I'm guilty of this too) so its refreshing to see a band actually take the time to write new songs as opposed to taking the easy way out and fall back on previous material. Also, it was great to see a band who came out and said "Hey, we're straight edge, we play in a straight edge band but we're cool with you doing whatever you do". Not really being in your face about it but being blatant and up front saying that they were a straight edge band.After the band signed to Revelation Records and released "The Difference Between", Big Wheel Recreation issued the demo, which was originally released by Stand Hard Records, on both vinyl and CD (the CD included a bonus live set) after an enormous demand for it. The CD started off with a a voicemail from drummer Luke's mother telling him that there was a special on television about straight edge and the band was mentioned. I believe the CD has since gone out of print so if that's the case, Ill upload the demo at some point. This demo was amazing for its time and even now holds up well against the current crop of bands. I'm glad that recently I've rediscovered the demo and hope that this brings back those feelings for those of you who had a copy of the demo when it came out.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

My brother Evan continues to plug away full steam ahead on his ORANGE COUNTY HARDCORE SCENESTER documentary film on the Orange County, California hardcore scene from 1990 to 1997. According to the official OCHS Facebook page, the year 1993 has been rough edited and Evan is preparing to start working on the year 1994 this coming week, so the film is basically halfway completed. Evan has been doing a great job of providing weekly updates on the film's progress on the Facebook page as well as lots of video stills from the film and other related photos as well. Additionally, there are now OCHS t-shirts (pictured below) available for purchase from A.C. Silk Screen Company, so contact them via their Myspace or Facebook pages to order.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

'U.K.H.C. - A Compilation', as the name suggests, is a compilation CD promoting the British HC scene. Released in 1997 on Household Name Records, it features 15 bands from all over the UK, with most bands doing 2 songs. Some of the bands on here are Stampin' Ground (who do an Inside Out cover on here, 'By A Thread'), Knuckledust, Ninebar (who had just formed a few months before recording their tracks for this compilation), Imbalance, Freebase, Consume (great hardcore from Northern Ireland) and Medulla Nocte. Overall a sweet compilation with a bunch of early recordings of some great UKHC bands. I picked up this CD at the All Ages Records store in Camden, London a few years ago. This independent punk/hardcore record store was co-founded by Lil & Katherine, the people behind Household Name Records (they're not involved with the store anymore tho). Which reminds me: support independent record stores, they're a dying breed unfortunately.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

According to Lambgoat, Trustkill Records will no longer be releasing records and Josh Grabelle has started Bullet Tooth, a recording and publishing company. In the statement, Josh says that the last Most Precious Blood album "Do Not Resuscitate" will be released as early as the end of this summer. Will we finally be able to hear the long lost recording? Read the article for more information as we as an interview with Josh on the history of Trustkill Records.

It feels like a million things have been going on around the Unrestrained camp, so here's a quick run down:

We have some shirts now available from the fine folks at HellfishOur split 7" with The Rebarker from Germany is almost back from the presses, and will be available real soon from Superfluous.

And while you're over at the Superfluous site, be sure to check out the limited version of the Rebarker 7" with the Mayhem rip-off cover.

A few months ago, we recorded a cover of "Let Down" by Chain of Strength, and it will be appearing on a 2x7" tribute comp on 1124 Records. The complete project is running well on schedule, and should be seeing the light of day real soon.When we recorded the Chain of Strength cover, we also recorded two more songs that will find their way onto a split 7" with Incendiary from Long Island, NY on Trip Machine sometime towards the end of summer.

As of now, we're entering the writing phase again for an EP on a label that we'll be announcing once we start the recording process. If all goes as planned, we'll be leaving Portland to play Southern California at the beginning of September. As always, I'll post further news here, and you can also keep up with us on a multitude of sites such as: Limited Pressing, Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.

Monday, June 21, 2010

As some of you may know, the Hardline movement was a pretty big part of the early to mid 90s with lots of kids following the ideas but quickly dropping out. Perhaps they changed their opinions or maybe they lost interest. Well David "Count" Agranoff was one who followed the movement for many years and has since become one of our regular readers, on-occasion contributor and friend. Since this interview, David has changed some of his views and when I told him I wanted to post this interview he did, he asked if he could write a sort of epilogue on how he feels about it now. I gladly accepted so please read on. David has a lot to say and its worth your time. He is still vegan straight edge and is currently writing another book as well as a book on the history of Earth Crisis. I scanned this interview from a European zine (Value of Strength) that my friend Ivan sent me. Please understand that the interview is almost 13 years old (when conducted, not published) so things have seriously changed. Read David's explanation before you read the interview.

"Hey Chip allowed me to say something before printing this interview from 13 years ago. During the last half of the 90's I was like a hardline robot totally dedicated like a machine to the ideology proposed in Vanguard#1 which was very much like a bible to me at the time. In 99 the hardline movement split, a minority who viewed hardline to based on muslam ideals copyrighted the name declared many of us ideologically impure. While I still believe they were reading vanguard incorrectly and at the time it was devastating to me. I had devoted everything to hardline for years.I am not sure I would ever have left if I had been forced out. This kind of ideological headbanging has happened in revolutionary groups forever so I shouldn't be surprised. I still agree with many of statements from this interview. I am still 100% drug free and militantly vegan. But my stepping away from the ideology gave me the freedom to question some of the views I once held.

I don't feel the same way about homosexuality, and support the rights of all to express themselves sexually any way they see fit. I did then too, but now I don't care weather it is natural or not. As far as Abortion goes, that is more complex. I think both sides of the debate are lost. Lives are not for others to choose, and the pro-life movement is anything but. In the end most humans grow up only to be an endless source of death and destruction, so I see no need in defending the life of a fetus that will ultimately spend a lifetime eating animals, consuming wasteful and destructive products. At this point we need less humans, I see that now.My views have changed but I feel the hardcore kids of today can learn from Hardline. It was movement that grew from hardcore that was truly revolutionary. We were not just kids advocating change we had a total praxis that was rooted in a belief in a deeper meaning to human life. We trained, we fought, and we took ourselves much more seriously than we had any right too. But compared to the lack of activism in the current scene we have a lot to be proud of. There was nothing like hardline ever before."

Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Devildance Records blog describes Communication Redlight as "A newer New Brunswick, N.J. band… that play a modernized version of 90′s melodic hardcore. Think Knapsack meets Inside." All of their music is available for free download on their website, so go download it all and decide for yourself.

The Northwest's unsung heroes of heavy have posted a new track called "Accidental Sons" over on their blog at http://envisionannodomini.blogspot.com/. There's a music player on the top right hand side of the page, so be sure to check it out. I've heard the entire EP, and whether it sees the light of day in 2010 or 2011, it will undoubtedly go down as my favorite release of that particular year.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

On July 12, 1993, the mighty Undertow played an eleven song set in the studios of WPSC 88.7FM, which was the radio station of William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. This set was a part of the On The Edge radio show run by Chris Kelly of 97a and Teamwork Records. Thanks to a kind poster on the Livewire board, I acquired a cassette dub of the performance, and have transferred it to mp3. I got most of the hiss out of the recording aside from the portions where John Pettibone is talking between songs. The volume was so low on those particular parts that I had to crank it in order to make sure what he's saying is audible. Undertow sound incredibly tight on this recording, and I'm quite sure that you'll agree. A long lost relic of one of the greatest bands of all time.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Summer is here (okay it officially starts on the 21st) and that means festivals. Of all the newer festivals in the past few years, its seems like Sound and Fury in Santa Barbara, California has become THE fest to attend on the West Coast (This Is Hardcore on the East, more on that tomorrow). Every year, the lineup just gets better and better with this years lineup being my personal favorite so far. Some great older bands (Outspoken, Strife, Earth Crisis, Sick of It All) and newer ones (Heartsounds, Mourningside AD, Foundation)...overall the fest is going to be solid. When more info becomes available, we'll get it posted but tickets are now available and if you buy a ticket for all 3 days, its only $70. The lineup has been posted but not the times yet. Check it out:

Sunday, June 13, 2010

My friend Matt sent me a message asking if we could post this flyer up and honestly, who am I to turn my back on Syracuse? Forfeit did some heavy touring and are now calling it quits so try and make it out to see them. Seriously killer lineup (Terror, Grave Maker, Foundation and more) at one of the best venues Syracuse has ever had. If you are interested in going you can find information here:

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Wow, this is our 800th post as Stuck In The Past. Pretty amazing that we've come this far and I thank you for all your support. That said, today I bring you a high quality rip of "The Sickness Of Our Age" from South Florida's Straight Edge machine, Tension. Tension were one of the first bands I ever saw when I started going to shows and I'm glad that I got to see them when they were at their peak of popularity. The band did some touring and would eventually go on to release this on Endless Fight Records (great label, click the link for some back info) and then a full length on Uprising Records before breaking up. The story I heard about the recording (Jeremy Staska and the world famous Studio 13) was that the day before they were set to begin, 3 of the members went through rough break ups and another was kicked out of their home. What does that mean? They were pissed. They went in and recorded one of the angriest records, to this day, I've ever heard and still one of my favorite 7 inches. Mike Hurley is one of the great unsung lyricists. He tackled subjects that other bands overlooked such as the mistreatment of Native Americans and you could always count on numerous sing-a-longs in every song. My friend Ivan, more on him in another post, showed me a video of them playing with Strife, Sick of it All and Strongarm at the Kitchen Club in Miami. Basically 300-400 kids stagediving and screaming their heads off. You couldn't even hear Mike singing over them. It was just one of those life changing musical moments when you realize that you are a part of something that some people could never understand. The band, like many of their time, ran its course and the members went their separate ways. I feel privileged to have seen the band when I did and this record will always remain in my top 5 7 inches ever.
This was released in 1994 by Endless Fight Records and re-released by Uprising Records in 1997. Since then, the record has gone out of print. I ripped this at a VBR setting from the original CD source and scanned the cover to give a nice high quality image. Enjoy!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Posted by xjustinx |

BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY, a collection of five individuals bound together by a love for the writings of Ernest Becker and Samuel Beckett and endless amounts of vegan food at Vancouver's 'Bo Kong Vegetarian Restaurant' have finally after nine long years managed to pull their personal lives together long enough to synthesize their perspectives on tragic experiences into a collection of songs infused with anguish and hope. Profoundly inspired by the inevitability of suffering, the members of BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY delve deeply into irony by attempting to use powerful, fast, yet melodic hardcore songs with insightful lyrics in a vain attempt to unravel their anxiety about the inevitability of their demise. Featuring a line up of experienced members (Greg Bennick, Alexei Rodriguez, and EJ Bastien of TRIAL and CATHARSIS; Sean Lande of STRAIN and BY A THREAD; and Happy Kreter of GOB and formerly a professional wrestler in Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling),

BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY will release their debut EP in the summer of 2010 in the United States onHellfish Records as a double 7" and digital and on Refuse Records in Europe as a CDep and 12"EP. More about the band can be seen, heard, and learned about at betweenearthandsky.com

Thursday, June 10, 2010

My friend Ivan, a fine gentleman whom I havent seen in many years, wrote me last week telling me that he was going to send me a package. That package arrived and inside was so much goodness. T-shirts, 7 inches, posters, stickers...I was beyond excited. But the most exciting thing for a collector like me was the inclusion of what John Wylie gave me a 99.9% confirmation on was the very first Morning Again shirt, hand screened by the band. The shirt has a little fading on the print but overall is in good shape. Not sure how many they made or even what year it was screened (my assumption would be 1995 or 1996 obviously). To the best of my knowledge, I now have a complete Morning Again t-shirt collection (unless someone knows something I'm missing). The lyrics on the back are from the song "America Online". I always liked that line...anyway, Ive got loads of stuff to scan and take pictures of but heres a small taste of what is in store.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Im finally making strides towards having the Stuck In The Past tshirts printed. Matt Miller, photographer extraordinaire, has been gracious enough to allow me to use some of his images for the backs of the shirts. Ill be printing a straight edge design and a non-straight edge design so no one is left out. What I ask of you, which colors should I print the shirts on? Ive listed 7 possibilities and the top 2 choices at the end of 2 weeks will be printed. Whichever colors are chosen, both designs will be printed on both colors so you will have a choice. Please help me out and vote.

One of the best late 80's/early 90s Clevo hardcore bands, Confront were one of the bands that really brought a sense of "hard" to hardcore. Members would go on to form the band everyone in the 90's loved to hate, One Life Crew. This discography of sorts features the track "Our Fight" which was re-recorded by One Life Crew for their "Crime-Ridden Society" LP. The original release of their 7 inch "Payday" was pressed by Dark Empire Records in the US and Dutch East India Trading in Europe, the same label that released Integrity's "Those Who Fear Tomorrow" and was limited to a 6 song record. This release on (your friendly neighborhood) Lost & Found Records took those 6 songs plus their comp tracks and a live set and released "One Life Drug Free" in 1994 right as One Life Crew was really gaining steam. To the best of my knowledge, this is everything the band recorded (sans a demo if there is one), so if there is more to update, let me know and Ill do so accordingly.I ripped this from the original CD source at VBR setting and scanned the cover so its a nice high-res image. Check it out.

Monday, June 7, 2010

This was posted recently on the Livewire Records message board and being the pretty big Remission fan that I am, I had to repost it here. This is an excellent soundboard recording of Remission live on 4/18/10 which includes two awesome songs not on either the Accept LP or their demo. According to the info included with the download, these two songs will be included on an upcoming 3 song 7" to be recorded at the end of June and released later this year. Additionally, 1124 Records will soon be releasing a Chain Of Strength tribute compilation double 7" which will include Remission's cover of "Hurts To Ask".http://www.mediafire.com/?onzkonhmrkz

Sunday, June 6, 2010

I received an email from my buddy Dobek Ohashi, vinyl collector extraordinaire and owner of the blog, Crucial Times, stating that in order to pay off some debt he has to sell some records. Let me preface this by saying that Dobek has got some killer stuff and Im sure it pains him to let it go but the man needs to pay some bills. He has opened a Limited Pressing store in order to bypass Ebay so check it out, you may find something you like.

Friday, June 4, 2010

André-Tascha Lammé is quite a busy man these days. Raising his son, his day job as a web designer and what's becoming a pretty regular weekly gig as the self described "bleeding heart libertarian" (and my current favorite) columnist for the Silence Lies website. In the past few weeks, he's added another role to his agenda - head honcho of Hardcore for Education, an organization that utilizes many notables of the hardcore scene as well as regular hardcore and non-hardcore folks in order to help raise money for and awareness of the current plight of Golden Empire Elementary School, the school that his son currently attends. This coming August, there will be a big eBay auction consisting of test pressings and rare merchandise from the bands and record labels pictured above as well as many others with all net proceeds going to the school. Please check out the links below for more detailed information and become a fan of the Hardcore for Education page on Facebook to be kept apprised of the items that will be included in the auction as well as other ways and methods of donation.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

I got an email from Monster, guitarist for Purification, giving me a heads up on whats going on in the Purification camp.The re-release of their album "Banging The Drums Of War" will be available July 19th through Hurry Up! Records. The re-release will include 2 brand new songs as well as a remastered version of the album. You can hear one of the new songs here: Brand New Purification Track!!!